Free Web NovelChapter 32: An Uninvited Guest
In the Drax Clan mansion, Vincent Drax was walking with his butler through the grand halls. The walls were lined with tapestries of ancient battles, the floors polished to a mirror shine.
"Hope there’s no problem with the city during my closed-door training," he asked his butler as they walked together, the butler trailing a step behind him.
"Yes, Master. There were no problems, but there has been suspicious movement in the city. I suspect it’s the Veyrion Clan," the butler replied, his voice low and careful.
Vincent paused and turned to the butler. "The Veyrion Clan."
"Yes, Master."
"Didn’t they sell him off in a transaction for his protection? Well, I have to thank him. If not for the reward given by the Empress, I wouldn’t have broken through like this."
Vincent let out a piercing, excited laughter that echoed through the halls.
"Oh, also news came from the Empress that we should investigate the Veyrion Clan and their location," the butler said, cutting off Vincent’s laughter.
Vincent frowned. "How’s it going?"
"There’s still no update."
Vincent frowned for a moment, his brow furrowing. Why does the Empress want to investigate the Veyrion Clan?
After a while, he shook his head. "Leave that for later. Let’s celebrate my breakthrough."
The wind blew, and a familiar voice resounded, calm and soft. "So you are leaving my orders for a celebration?"
Vincent froze, his expression aghast as he heard this voice. Even though it was soft and calm, it sent chills down his spine, cold and suffocating.
His gaze turned to his back, seeing Seraphina’s familiar figure standing at the entrance, her golden hair catching the faint light, her eyes cold and unreadable.
He immediately knelt down and bowed, the butler following suit as they both greeted, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Seraphina didn’t answer but moved, her footsteps echoing through the hall like a countdown to doom. Each step was as if she was stepping on their hearts, and they began to sweat heavily, their bodies trembling under her silent pressure.
"I asked you a question. Was your celebration more important than my orders?" Seraphina’s cold voice cut through the silence, making them shake in their fear.
Vincent began to regret his words. He shouldn’t have said so, but he hadn’t expected the Empress to show up exactly at that moment.
His stomach churned in regret and fear, his mind racing for a way to escape her wrath.
"I am asking you a question." Seraphina waved her hand, and Vincent’s ear was cut off suddenly, the flesh falling to the ground with a wet thud.
Even though blood spilled out and stained his clothes, Vincent made no sound. He gritted his teeth and replied, "Your orders, Empress."
As for the butler, his legs were already wobbling due to fear. The Empress was not someone to be trifled with.
"Since you know that, what do you mean by your earlier words?" Seraphina questioned, her voice dangerously low.
"I beg for your forgiveness, Empress. You are deemed to punish me however you like." Vincent didn’t try to defend himself but begged for forgiveness. No one who knew the Empress would try to defend themselves. She was known for her villainous, ferocious, and ruthless nature.
"You can’t escape punishment." Seraphina waved her hand again, and Vincent’s right hand was cut off, the limb falling to the ground with a sickening thud.
He grimaced in pain as blood poured from the wound, staining the marble floor.
"This will be your punishment. And you shouldn’t try to heal the hand or your ear." Her cold, authoritative voice resounded, and Vincent nodded, his face pale but his resolve unbroken.
She waved her hand, and the severed hand caught fire, the flames consuming it until nothing remained but ash. Vincent’s gaze remained unchanged, his expression stoic.
Seraphina’s cold eyes were fixed on him. "Even though there’s the fact that I borrowed your identity of being your daughter, it doesn’t mean we are close. Don’t forget the hierarchy between us."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Vincent and the butler replied at the same time, their voices trembling.
After an hour, Seraphina sat on a throne. Beside her was the one-handed Vincent, and the butler stood beside her like a servant.
"Your Majesty, with the information we gained, we are able to source out that this might be the location where the Veyrion Clan is," Vincent said.
"Let me see." Seraphina waved her hands, and the stacks of paper gathered before her. Using her origin spirit sense, she read it all.
And immediately she did, her figure disappeared from the mansion. Vincent and the butler let out heavy breaths of relief.
They felt a burden had been removed from their hearts. They were safe.
---
In an unknown island, a mansion sprawled across the ground like a blade, sharp, imposing, and cutting against the horizon. Its silhouette dominated the landscape, dark and foreboding, as if it had been carved from the very bones of the earth.
In the deepest part of this mansion, in a bedroom bathed in the soft glow of candlelight, a young woman with amethyst purple eyes and hair was lying in the arms of a young man with black hair and eyes.
Both bore a striking resemblance to Lucien. His eyes mirrored the woman’s amethyst hue, and his face carried the same sharp features as both figures before him.
"David, I feel scared and guilty that we sent our son, Lucien, off like that. It felt like we abandoned him. Wouldn’t he hate us?" the young woman with purple hair said, her voice trembling with worry.
The young man called David cupped her cheeks, his thumbs gently brushing away the tears that threatened to fall. "Don’t be worried, Valyra. We did it for his own good. You know the enemy we are going to face is strong, and we can’t let a layabout stay here or they might hold him as our weakness. If we survive the calamity, then we can bring him back."
He said in a profound manner, his voice steady and reassuring as he calmed his wife down.
"Kael is also in the Aethel Academy, so he’s safe there," David continued, his tone softening.
"But I just feel restless..." Her words were cut off as David kissed her, a gentle and lingering embrace that silenced her fears.
After a while, they separated. "Aren’t you planning to go back to your race? This is a dangerous situation, and it’s something I must face alone."
Valyra gave him a knock on his head, a playful yet firm gesture. "We live and die together. That was the promise we made together. I don’t fear death, especially dying with you. I just feel saddened by the matter of our sons."
"Don’t worry. Our sons aren’t ordinary people. They will survive without help, even though I will miss them," David let out a sad chuckle, his voice heavy with unspoken emotion.
Suddenly, his gaze became chilly as he waved his hand like a sword, striking toward a corner in the room.
A figure was forced out of the shadows. Golden hair, golden eyes, but her face was concealed by a mask. She was dressed in form-fitting black leather that hugged her curves while allowing unrestricted movement. A dark, sleeveless tunic sat atop, cinched at the waist with a thin leather belt, and matching trousers tucked into knee-high boots. A short, hooded cloak hung from her shoulders, its edges trimmed with silver thread that caught the faint candlelight.
"It seems one can’t underestimate the Head of the Veyrion Clan."
